1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a cleaning apparatus that may be used in an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine or a printer or in a process cartridge that is detachably mountable in the image forming apparatus, and to a cleaning apparatus for cleaning an image bearing member such as a photosensitive member and a dielectric.
In this case, the image forming apparatus is an apparatus for forming an image on a recording medium by using, for example, an electrophotographic image forming process and includes, for example, an electrophotographic copying machine, an electrophotographic printer (for example, a laser beam printer and an LED printer), a facsimile machine and a word-processor and the like.
Also, the process cartridge is made into a cartridge by integrating at least one of charging means, developing means, and cleaning means with an electrophotographic photosensitive member which is the image bearing member, and is detachably mountable in an image forming apparatus main body.
2. Description of Related Art
Conventionally, in the image forming apparatus using the electrophotographic image forming process, a process cartridge system has been adopted in which an electrophotographic photosensitive member and a processing means for acting on the photosensitive member are integrally made into a cartridge to be detachably mountable in an image forming apparatus main body. According to this process cartridge system, the user may perform the maintenance of the apparatus by himself or herself without depending on a service person so that the operability may be considerably enhanced. Accordingly, the process cartridge system has been used extensively in the electrophotographic image forming apparatus.
By the way, in recent years, there has been a strong demand for a longer service life of the process cartridge and the image forming apparatus main body in conformity with a change in commercial needs. Although it is necessary to increase an amount of toner contained in the cartridge, the size of a waste toner container must be also enlarged in proportion to the increase of the toner. For example, if the amount of toner is doubled, the size of the container must be doubled and the size of the waste toner container also must be doubled. Accordingly, the cleaning container has conventionally been formed by connecting two frames of a cleaning frame and a cleaning lid, thereby increasing the volume of the cleaning container.
FIG. 12 is a cross-sectional view of a conventional process cartridge and FIG. 13 is an exploded perspective view illustrating the process cartridge. In the process cartridge E shown in FIG. 12, a cleaning frame 113 of a cleaning means 110 supports a photosensitive drum 107 that is an electrophotographic photosensitive member and causes a cleaning blade 110a to abut against the photosensitive drum 107 to remove toner remaining on the photosensitive drum 107. A cleaning lid 114 that is a second cleaning frame is connected with a cleaning container 113a that is a first cleaning frame by ultrasonic welding or friction welding such as vibration welding to form the cleaning frame 113.
In the cleaning frame 113, a support member 110c supporting the cleaning blade 110a that is the cleaning member is fixed by screws to a mounting surface 113b provided on the cleaning container 113a to form a waste toner reservoir 110b. In the seal structure of the cleaning blade 110a and the cleaning container 113a, an elastic seal member 115 is arranged in a full length in the longitudinal direction on a seal seat surface 113c to which the mounting surface 113b arranged on both ends is connected in the longitudinal direction and the support member 110c is fixed thereon by screws to the mounting surface 113b, thereby eliminating the gap between the support member 110c and the cleaning container 113a to prevent the leakage of the toner from the waste toner reservoir 110b. At this time, the seal seat surface 113c is located lower than the mounting surface 13b by a thickness corresponding to the condition after the compression of the seal. Also, a welding portion 113d of the cleaning container 113a is connected with the seal seat surface 113c. 
Also, FIG. 14 is a view of the cleaning frame 113a as viewed in a mounting direction of the cleaning lid 114. As shown in FIG. 14, an internal wall distance 113L2 of the waste toner reservoir 110b of the mounting surface 113b is longer than a distance 113L1 between the mounting surfaces 113b at both ends to thereby increase the volume of the waste toner reservoir 110b. 
However, when the cleaning frame is constituted by friction-welding the cleaning container and the cleaning lid, the deformation of each member is generated upon welding. This is due to the rigidity of the container, the flatness of the welding surface, the welding condition of the welder (welding strength, welding time) or the like. It is impossible to completely suppress the deformation in view of discrepancies in two-piece resin products.
Then, in the above-described structure, there is much deformation also in the cleaning frame and the cleaning lid upon welding. According to this deformation, the positional relationship of the photosensitive drum mounting portion with the cleaning blade positioning portion is changed.
For this reason, after attaching the cleaning blade to the cleaning container, the positional measurement of the cleaning blade is performed in every step. Also, for the one displaced considerably from a regular position, the reattachment of the cleaning blade is performed.
An object of the present invention is to provide a cleaning apparatus for preventing the deformation of a cleaning frame.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a cleaning apparatus for enhancing the mechanical strength of the cleaning frame.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide a cleaning apparatus for enhancing the positional precision of the cleaning member.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide a cleaning apparatus for reducing the number of assembling steps for the cleaning apparatus.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide a cleaning apparatus for enhancing the toner containing amount of the cleaning apparatus.
Still other objects and features of the present invention will become apparent by reading the following detailed description with reference to the accompanying drawings.